LaPorte mother sues city, neighbor after child abandonment arrest

A La Porte mother arrested last summer after letting her children play in the front yard filed a lawsuit Friday against the city, a police officer and a neighbor involved in the incident.

Tammy Cooper was arrested July 2011 and charged with child endangerment and child abandonment after her neighbor told police Cooper's children, ages 6 and 9, had been abandoned. The children were playing on the front lawn.

After police arrived, Cooper told authorities that she had been sitting outside in a lawn chair watching her children the entire time

The neighbor then reported that she had struck one of Cooper's children with her car, a detail she did not disclose on the initial call. Court documents state that a medical response team was not called, and neither child appeared to be injured at the time of Cooper's arrest.

Cooper is seeking damages for her legal expenses, emotional and physical pain and suffering and damages to her reputation.

The La Porte Police Department released a statement to the TV station: "We are confident in the known actions of the responding officers. In addition, officers did contact the Harris County District Attorney's Office while on the scene that evening, upon which their Office accepted charges of Abandoning a Child on Ms. Cooper."